The present invention relates to a method of anchoring fastening tabs to side portions of a disposable sanitary garment, such as a diaper or an incontinence guard, said garment comprising a top sheet of liquid permeable, weldable material, a backing sheet of liquid impermeable material and an absorbent body enclosed therebetween, the top sheet and the backing sheet being extended outside the absorbent body around the periphery thereof and joined to each other in regions thereof lying outside the absorbent body, said garment having a front part, a rear part and an intermediate crotch part, wherewith laterally extending fastening tabs are fastened to the side portions in the rear or front part of the garment. The invention also relates to a disposable sanitary garment comprising fastening tabs anchored thereto by said method.
In order to make the fastening tabs of disposable sanitary garments, such as diapers and incontinence guards, softer to the touch it is desirable to use non-woven material for such tabs. The risk for chafing is reduced if fastening tabs of materials softer than the materials commonly used for such tabs, e.g. polyethylene film, is used. It is also desirable to anchor the manufacturer""s end of such tabs by weld joints instead of glue joints. The manufacturer""s end of a fastening tab is the end thereof that is permanently fastened to a side portions of the garment by the manufacturer in contrast to the opposite end of the tab which is attached to a side portion of the garment by the user when applying the garment on a wearer. A weld joint can be made stronger than a glue joint and it exists for several reasons a general desire of reducing to a minimum the use of glue joints in manufacturing lines for absorbent garments. However, since the materials used for the backing sheet and the top sheet usually are incompatible with each other from a welding point of view, i.e. have different melting points, it is a problem to weld fastening tabs of soft non-woven material onto the side portions of the garment due to the incompatibility of the tab material and the backing sheet material.
The object of the invention is to provide a disposable sanitary garment, such as a diaper or an incontinence guard, with fastening tabs of soft material, the manufacturer""s ends of the tabs being anchored to the side portions of the garment by a weld joint.
These object are accomplished by a method of anchoring fastening tabs to side portions of a disposable sanitary garment, such as a diaper or an incontinence guard, said garment comprising a top sheet of liquid permeable, weldable material, a backing sheet of liquid impermeable material and an absorbent body enclosed therebetween, the top sheet and the backing sheet being extended outside the absorbent body around the periphery thereof and joined to each other in regions thereof lying outside the absorbent body, said garment having a front part, a rear part and an intermediate crotch part, wherewith laterally extending fastening tabs are fastened to the side portions in the rear or front part of the garment, characterised by the following steps;
cutting out holes in a backing sheet in opposite side portions of the rear or front part thereof,
between these sheets, thereby creating a composite blank, joining a top sheet to the cut backing sheet with an absorbent body disposed
placing fastening tabs in the side portions of the composite blank containing the cut out holes in the backing sheet with the manufacturer""s ends of said tabs each being disposed in one of said holes, said tabs being made of a material which is compatible to the top sheet material from a welding point of view, and anchoring the manufacturer""s ends of the fastening tabs to the top sheet by welding.
In a preferred embodiment the cutting step consist of cutting successive rows of holes in a web of backing material which is continuously running in a machine direction.
In a first alternative the method includes the steps of laying a row of absorbent bodies on to the web of backing material, laying a web of top sheet material on the web of backing material, the web of top sheet material having the same width as the web of backing sheet material, joining the two webs together, thereby creating a continuous web of garment blanks, and thereafter welding fastening tabs to the side portions of the rear or front part of each garment blank.
In a second alternative the method includes the steps of laying a row of absorbent bodies on a continuously running web of top sheet material, the web of top sheet material having the same width as the web of backing sheet material, laying the web of backing material onto the web of top sheet material, joining the two webs together, thereby creating a continuous web of garment blanks, and thereafter welding fastening tabs to the side portions of the rear or front part of each garment blank.
In both alternatives the method preferably includes the steps of reinforcing the top sheet material in areas to which fastening tabs are anchored or are to be anchored, and anchoring the manufacturer""s ends of the fastening tabs by ultra-sound welding
The invention is also related to a disposable sanitary garment, such as a diaper or an incontinence guard, comprising a top sheet of liquid permeable, weldable material, a backing sheet of liquid impermeable material and an absorbent body enclosed therebetween, the top sheet and the backing sheet being extended outside the absorbent body around the periphery thereof and joined to each other in regions thereof lying outside the absorbent body, said garment having a front part, a rear part and an intermediate crotch part, wherewith fastening tabs are fastened to the side portions in the rear or front part of the garment, characterised in that the fastening tabs are made of a material which is compatible to the top sheet material from a welding point of view and that the backing sheet comprises cut-outs in the regions of the garment containing the manufacturer""s ends of the fastening tabs such that no backing sheet material is present in those regions, and that the manufacturer""s ends of the fastening tabs are fastened to the top sheet by weld joins.
In a preferred embodiment a strip of reinforcing material is attached to the top sheet in each region of the garment containing the manufacturer""s end of a fastening tab. The top sheet consists of a non-woven material and the fastening tabs are made of a material containing the same type of fibres as the top sheet. Preferably, the top sheet and the fastening tabs are made of non-woven material containing polypropylene fibres and the manufacturer""s end of the fastening tabs and the cut-outs in the backing sheet have a rounded shape, i.e. have no sharp corners. Furthermore, the backing sheet is extended a distance of 10-30 mm from the longitudinal side edge of each side portion in the rear or front part of the garment.